On policyOff Policy

1
On policy/Off Policy?

• PART II
• BMUN 55th Session

2
Debate on Child Labor

• Child labor is a despicable human right abuse
  that must be halted immediately, in all forms.
  
• Is Pakistan on policy?
• No. These are the types of countries where the
  economy is dependent on child labor. It is
  particularly the case in South-East and Southern
  Asia, less so in Latin America and Africa.
• While these countries do not hate children, they
  understand that they need child labor for their
  economy to be self sustaining.
  
• If countries were to boycott countries or
  products in which child labor was used, they
  would not be able to sell anything.
  
• Look out for statements with conditions attached
  e.g. we propose eradicating child labor by year
  X and plan to ease countries into the changes by

3
Debate on Child Labor

• Child labor is a despicable human right abuse
  that must be halted immediately, in all forms.
  
• Is the US on policy?
• Well, they have signed on to the treaties, so
  technically yes.
  
• What about all the US companies that are involved
  in producing these products?
  
• Special interests do come in to play and you can
  think of particular cases of countries protecting
  their domestic industries.

4
Debate on Child Labor

• Child labor is a despicable human right abuse
  that must be halted immediately, in all forms.
  
• What about Chile?
• They are an economy that is relatively developed
  and relies very little on the service industry.
  
• If a country does not rely on production of
  things made in factories or agriculture, it does
  not make sense for them to oppose the
  protection.
• We have international norms that are followed
  (many of which established by international
  treaties), the question is to what extent the
  countries are willing to follow through with them
  (even if they have signed yes).
• States not party to the conflict can often have
  their votes bought by rich countries.

5
Global Warming

• Every nation must make changes to its behavior
  and cut carbon dioxide emissions in order to
  prevent an environmental catastrophe .
  
• Is Tuvalu on policy?
• Yes. They are below sea level. They will
  actually disappear if sea levels rise.
  
• Australia and New Zealand are already planning
  for potential refugee crises from South Pacific
  nations.
  
• Island nations should be fairly vocal about
  this.
  
• If you have not heard of the country, it is
  probably fair to assume they want to air on the
  side of world opinion.
  

6
Global Warming

• Every nation must make changes to its behavior
  and cut carbon dioxide emissions in order to
  prevent an environmental catastrophe .
  
• Is Norway on policy?
• Definitely. The Scandinavian countries are the
  best in the world about taking environmental
  issues seriously.
  
• The rich countries of the world (that have
  already developed), with the major exception of
  the current US administration, support more
  protection of the environment.

7
Global Warming

• It is the responsibility of every country to
  seriously commit to combating the spread of
  HIV/AIDS in the developing world.
  
• Is China on policy?
• No. China is a rapidly developing country and
  they are not developing cleanly. They are using
  a lot of coal-based energy.
  
• They say that the developing world needs to be
  able to develop just as the developed world
  already has. It is those developed countries
  that need to take the initiatives, not everyone.